On 27 Jun 2006 02:13:58 -0700, "Andy Evans"
wrote:

Meanwhile, I will have the rights of reply and self defence.

There are no such things as "human rights". We are not born with any
intrinsic "rights" any more than trees and wasps are. I wish
politicians, do gooders and do badders would realise this simple fact.
What we do have is certain guarantees depending on the context. For
example if we are a citizen of Holland we have the guarantee of a Dutch
passport, health cover, education etc. If we have the bad luck to be a
citizen of Dafor we have approximately no guarantees at all.

And so to the internet. It doesn't take very much to figure out that we
have no guarantees of anything in an unmoderated group. You don't have
any "rights" as such - all you have is the freedom to express yourself
however you want in words. Freedom to do something isn't the same as
the right to do something, even though it may work out the same in
practice. Andy

Agreed totally.
I've worked in many of the world's nastier places - mostly following
just behind war to resurrect communications (Afghanistan, Kuwait,
Beirut, Angola etc.), and I've learned two very important life
lessons.

1. There are no rights - everything we do is a privilege
2. There are no necessities - everything we have is a luxury

You only need to see one naked, parentless toddler picking up whatever
looks edible in a pile of rubbish to understand that basic fact.

We (and I mean everybody posting on this group) view the world from a
position of unbelievably vast privilege. We need to remember that.

d

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Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com